Umpire&#39;s belt



July 14, 1931. F. w. BENDER 1,814,887

UMPIRE S BELT Filed Oct. 12, 1928 at ia/mu Patented July 14, 1931 'eTsNr oFFIcE FREDERICK W. BENDER, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY UMPIRES BELT Application filed October 12, 1928. Serial No. 312,104.

ble to be easily removed when desired, and

yet be so firmly supported as not to be accidentally displaced.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a belt to which is attached a plurality of spacedly disposed resilient open ended supports, one for each ball, the supports being each composed of two substantially lJ-shaped flat spring members, connected together in cruciform at their bases,

andso attached to the belt as to be held against rotation, with the free ends outwardly so that the ball may be easily inserted or withdrawn, and be always held in a readily accessible position.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a complete belt partially broken away at two points, and illustrating the present invention, certain of the ball containers being filled;

*igure 2 is a side elevation of the com plete belt;

Figure 3 is a detached perspective view of one of the members of a ball container, the adjacent portion of the belt, and the securing means; and

Figure 4 is a detail view of one of the members of the ball container showing the leather cover in section.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 designates the belt, which as is customary is provided with the buckle 6 and its cooperating end 7. This, however, may be of a diiierent style or type than shown without affecting the invention.

A number of ball containers 8, here shown as six in number, are provided to receive the base balls 9, and these containers are so arranged with respect to the belt as not to interfere with any of the umpires paraphernalia, such as his chest protector, and yet present the balls in a readily accessible position.

Each container has two members 10, each one of which is made from a single strip of spring metal, to provide the out-stretched terminals 10, and with an opening 11, here shown as square. hen these two members are assembled, they are cruciform at their bases, with the openings 11 aligning to receive the square shank 12 of the rivet 13, which is inserted through the belt at the desired place to pierce the openings 11, and receive the washer 14%, which is then held upon the rivet and itself holds the members interengaged by the burring of the end of the rivet. By this means the rivet holds the container to the belt securely and from rotating, and with the outer terminals of the member 1.0, in such a position as to permit the ball 9 to be readily inserted or removed, and as the arms or terminals are spring tensioned, the ball is firmly yet resiliently held upon the belt.

To further assist in holding the ball in place, the members 10 are covered with an envelope 15-, preferably of leather or some other non-slip material.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings, it is evident that an umpires belt constructed according to this invention will provide a means for carrying a desired number of base balls, and that the same can be worn outside the coat, and when the coat is discarded can be worn as an ordinary belt, thus providing a very useful and desirable device for this purpose.

That I claim, as new is In combination, a flexible belt, a plurality of crossed substantially U-shaped resilient ball-holding members disposed laterally with respect thereto, and extending therefrom a distance equal to the diameter of the ball to be held, one of said members being arranged substantially vertical and at a right angle to the belt whereby a portion thereof will be disposed directly under the center of an engaged ball, and a fastening 5 means having a square shank disposed in square openings of said members and securing the intermediate portions of said members to the belt and against r0- tation relatively thereto, whereby the construction Will resiliently support an engaged ball in substantially all directions and enable removal thereof only in a direction away from the belt.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

FREDERICK W. BENDER. 

